Property owners who wish to have a picket fence on their property, are desirous that the tops of the pickets are aligned in perfectly straight lines, between selected points along the fence at least, in order to present a neat and pleasing appearance. In order to aid the fence builder to achieve that end, and at the same time to minimize the cost of achieving that end, it is desirable that the builder have some form of reliable guide and method.
One method is to secure a taut string between suitable points along the fence as the pickets are installed. This involves the careful mounting of supports for the string in a manner to position the string in the plane of the pickets, in a manner to position the string the correct distance above the top rail, and in a manner to assure that the string will remain taut. One disadvantage is that, on a windy day, the string may be off line and may stretch and sag. Another disadvantage is that great care must be exercised by the builder in positioning the pickets, so that the string is not displaced by any one picket. This system then is unreliable, is difficult to work with, and requires additional time for the correct placing of the pickets.
It would be desirable to have a method, including the use of a good fixture, wherein the fixture may be simply placed on the fence and be self-supporting, wherein the pickets may be abutted against the fixture without concern for displacing the alignment guide or line, and wherein the fixture may be readily adjusted, and adapted for different rises of the pickets above the top rail of the fence.
These basic needs are addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,278 (1986) to Flores et al. Flores discloses a one piece guide having a horizontally supported beam about eight feet long. At each end is a pair of support legs. Holes and adjustable support pins provide the user with a selectable height for the top of pickets. One end of the beam sits astride a first picket. The opposite end of the beam is supported by the top rail of the fence. Thus the beam forms a guide for leveling the rest of the picket tops.
Flores does not provide a means to level the fence posts or rails. He does not provide a convenient kit that is readily packaged and shipped. The present invention does provide these features, as well as a complete method to install a picket fence.